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VATICAN CITY — As members, experts and observers at the Synod of Bishops on the family meet in small groups to discuss the midterm report and make suggestions — some major, some minor — for improving it, three group leaders met the press.

Jesuit Father Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said the groups are formulating “a systematic reaction to the relatio post disceptationem (the midterm report) in such a way as to provide material for the drafting of the relatio sinodi,” which is scheduled to be voted upon Saturday and form the basis for preparing for the world Synod of Bishops on the family next year.

Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., said his group had finished its work this morning; a Vatican official said a couple other groups also finished — and so get the afternoon and evening off.

Archbishop Kurtz, Spanish Cardinal Lluis Martinez Sistach of Barcelona and Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, each said their groups insisted on improving the relatio by highlighting the beauty and the powerful witness provided by strong Catholic families who are living in accordance with church teaching.

.@sistachcardenal says #Synod14 final report should not overemphasize family problems at the expense of celebrating happy families

They also insisted their groups are trying to preserve and strengthen the relatio’s missionary approach and emphasis, which consists in reaching out to all families, listening to them, affirming those qualities that are good and accompanying them in growing toward holiness.

Asked whether they were swayed by negative reaction to the relatio, particularly reaction from organized groups fearing the relatio’s language marked a watering down of church teaching, the three claimed no.

Cardinal Sistach said, “We are all working with great freedom,” speaking from the heart, listening to one another as Pope Francis had encouraged them and praying for guidance. “We are seeking the will of God, not the will of any groups.”

However, he said, his group is making some changes in every section of the relatio. In addition to adding stronger language about the beauty of marriage, he said, his group wants to see an affirmation of “the Gospel of life,” since the human person is born into a family, should be protected and raised within a family and is watched over by the family until natural death.

+Fisichella says important that annulment process should be cost free, to avoid impression that the church is profiting

Archbishop Fisichella said his group is asking for the inclusion of something mentioned in the synod hall, but not in the relatio: a request that couples seeking an annulment are not charged money for the process in order to ensure that, “when speaking of a sacrament, there is not the minimum suspicion” that money is the aim of the process. A second addition, he said, is recognition that couples who adopt a child are, in fact, making an act of love and charity.

Asked if their groups are making any mention of “Humanae Vitae,” the 1968 teaching on married love affirming the church’s ban on artificial contraception, the three synod members said yes, but the problem was how to educate Catholic consciences and how to encourage more of them to learn about natural family planning.

The synod members also were asked if with all the freedom to speak and the humility of listening to others the tradition of disputatio — a disciplined, but not always sweet debate — had disappeared. Fortunately, no, Archbishop Fisichella said. Listening to about 200 four-minute speeches, disputes are “an element of growth” and are an important antidote to the discussion being “insanely boring.”

VATICAN CITY — Meeting the press after the reading of the synod’s midterm report, leaders of the assembly told reporters the document is very much a work in progress and that already that morning many synod members suggested changes and phrases that need more precision or greater study.

Hungarian Cardinal Peter Erdo of Esztergom-Budapest, the synod relator who led the drafting of the report and read it to the assembly this morning, said it was a huge challenge, for example, to take a theme 30 bishops spoke about — in different languages and with different terminology — and synthesize it.

#Synod14 report will be basis of future discussions, work in small groups, says @CardinalChito "It is not to be considered a final document"

Philippine Cardinal Luis Antonio “Chito” Tagle, one of the synod presidents, described the report as “a mirror,” reflecting the first week of discussion. However, he said, it is a provisional document and will be the object of discussion in small groups, which will propose amendments to the text. “The drama continues,” he said.

Cardinal Erdo said there already were calls from synod members to include in the text a recognition that there exist “disordered forms of cohabitation,” but there were even more calls to give greater emphasis to “the special value of marriage lived according to God’s plan.”

Even once the synod concludes Oct. 19 — with the final report being voted on Oct. 18 — the work will not be over. Italian Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto, special secretary of the synod, told reporters that the hope is that bishops around the world will discuss the final report with their people, especially married and other lay Catholics, and bring their reflections to the 2015 world Synod of Bishops on the family.

+Forte: "We must respect the dignity of every person; the fact of being homosexual doesn't mean this dignity shouldn't be respected"

Several questions focused on the midterm report’s seeming openness to gay people and to Catholics who have been divorced and civilly remarried; the bishops were asked about the lack of clear-cut statements.

Archbishop Forte told them, “There is always a risk, especially for those called to be a teacher or a prophet, to want to cut things with a hatchet,” responding with a simple yes or no. But the complexity of a situation must be studied first. “One who does not use this logic risks judging the person rather than understanding them,” and understanding is the aim of the synod.

A recurring theme at the news conference was how the synod on the family reflected or continued in the line of the Second Vatican Council, which met 1962-1965.

.@CardinalChito says several #Synod14 members this a.m. said "they felt the spirit of VaticanII not only in text, but also in discussion"

Cardinal Tagle said the experience was like the Second Vatican Council in that it was striving to be “a church that is not self-absorbed, a church that knows how to exist as a missionary church, listening and dialoguing with the contemporary world. I think that is what the synod fathers were affirming.”

Archbishop Forte said taking seriously the idea that the church on earth can grow in holiness means “to place ourselves in a position of listening, which is one of the most beautiful experiences we are living in this synod.”

The listening, he said, applies also to the church’s attitude toward members who are not fully living church teaching on marriage and the family, yet are trying to love another person faithfully and responsibly.

+Forte: #Synod14 so far shows need to continue to grow, to mature ideas, openness to how Spirit wants church to respond to modern families

The sense of the document is to “welcome the positive wherever it is found. And it certainly does exist,” he said. “To discern, to appreciate all that is positive in these experiences is an exercise of intellectual honesty and of pastoral charity.”

VATICAN CITY — The latest discussions coming out of the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family are continuing to focus on the challenges today’s families face.

This morning the auditors — almost all of them lay couples or individuals — took the floor to explain the pastoral situations they face and the approaches they take in their work to help families. Today’s briefing also covered talks by the synod fathers from yesterday afternoon.

Here are a few highlights of the latest that’s unfolding:

At #Synod14 concern for children of divorced parents who are treated as "ping pong balls"

The church needs to show its concern for children who are living in broken families, one bishop told the assembly.

One idea is to set up “support groups,” so kids — so often the victims in difficult family situations — can get additional help. Kids who find care and support in the church also can be a bridge for getting the parents back to the church, some said.

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Rosica says one bp at #Synod14 spoke about pastoral outreach, care to children of gay parents. "We don't refuse them the sacraments"

Basilian Father Thomas Rosica, the English press briefer, said the same bishop wanted to see this focused pastoral care extended to all children, emphasizing that kids of same-sex couples shouldn’t be denied the sacraments because of their parents’ irregular situation.

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Lombardi: At #Synod14 several explained "penitential journey" that could lead to readmission to sacraments of the divorced & remarried

One “new element” that emerged in discussions was the idea of a “penitential journey” for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics. Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, told journalists this topic received “detailed and intense” discussion.

One synod father offered a model of how couples would have to reflect on a number of questions, like the impact their divorce has on the children and spouse, and how the damage and errors could be repaired.

It’s not “a simple solution,” but it would be part of a wider, longer journey of reconciliation to bring the couple back to the church.

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Vat summary of #Synod14 discussion last evening: Call for more lay judges on marriage tribunals, "women in particular"

Talks continued on the need to streamline the process of verifying the nullity of some marriages. Now with the new commission Pope Francis has created for this task, synod fathers expressed hopes some agreement could be reached on a simple and uniform procedure for the whole church.

Synod participants also wanted to see more lay judges, especially women, working on marriage tribunals.

People also recognized that engaged couples often see the marriage preparation course as “an imposition” or “a duty” to put up with so there ends up being no real learning or appreciation for the teachings.

Courses then become too brief and are spending too much time on “social and juridical” matters rather than the religious and spiritual side of the vocation of marriage. Marriage should have the same lengthy and intense preparation and follow-up care as religious vocations have, according to today’s briefing.

Attention again turned to the unfair pressure Western countries put on African nations by giving economic aid only when a recipient country promises to promote abortion, contraception and same-sex unions — things that go against not just church teaching, but traditional cultures as well, assembly members said.

“Our poverty doesn’t mean we have no dignity,” Father Rosica quoted one synod participant as saying.

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Jocelyne Khoueiry, #Synod14 expert, says "every member starts from same place: indissolubility of marriage." But differ on how to show mercy

Jocelyne Khoueiry, a synod expert who spoke to reporters at today’s news conference,said everyone agrees that the indissolubility of marriage is sacred and must not be changed. However, two different approaches for protecting this truth have emerged, she said.

The ideal situation is for the church to use God and his mercy as its guide and “integrate the truth of marriage” without compromise while being close to those who are suffering, she said.

The synod assembly put out a message of support for all families who are affected by the world’s conflicts, especially families from Iraq and Syria.

Thanking the world community for the assistance they’ve shown so far, “we invite people of good will to offer the necessary aid and help to the innocent victims of the barbarity underway,” the synod fathers wrote.

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Latin loses its working group, too, at #Synod14. There are 3 English groups, 3 Italian, 2 French, 2 Spanish

After Pope Francis switched the synod’s official language from Latin to Italian, Father Lombardi now said the small working groups — that have now been set up and are divided up by language — would not have a Latin group. Miseret Latin lovers!

VATICAN CITY — Many members of the Synod of Bishops have Twitter and other social media accounts. But they won’t be tweeting or posting from the synod hall.

Obviously, Pope Francis as the church’s chief legislator is free to ignore that rule given this morning by Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, general secretary of the synod. But he can also appeal to the fact that his @Pontifex tweets are posted from the Apostolic Palace and not the synod hall.

Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois of Paris (on Twitter @avingttrois), Cardinal Lluis Martinez Sistach of Barcelona (@sistachcardenal) and Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban, South Africa (@CardinalNapier) all spoke at the synod this morning, but you would not know that from their Twitter feeds.

Cardinal Baldisseri made his announcement after the morning prayer and brief remarks by Pope Francis. A couple dozen photographers, camera operators and reporters are allowed into the synod hall each morning for the opening prayer. We were not told we couldn’t Tweet. So we did.

VATICAN CITY — The extraordinary Synod of Bishops formally opens with Mass Sunday and begins its working sessions at the Vatican Monday morning.

Pope Francis is expected to attend all of the working sessions, along with 253 other people.

By the numbers:

— 191 voting members are expected: 162 attending because of the office they hold (114 presidents of bishops’ conferences, 25 heads of Vatican offices, 13 heads of Eastern Catholic churches, and 10 members of the synod council); three elected by the men’s Union of Superiors General; and 26 named by Pope Francis.

— Of the 191, 42 come from Africa, 38 from the Americas, 29 from Asia, 78 from Europe and four from Oceania and the South Pacific. The voting members include 61 Latin-rite cardinals, one Eastern-rite cardinal, seven Eastern patriarchs, 67 archbishops, 47 bishops, one auxiliary bishop and seven priests.

— The synod members will be assisted by 16 synod staff members and appointed experts (also referred to as collaborators), including one married couple. Members also will hear from and work in small groups with 38 observers (auditors), including 12 married couples.

— In addition, eight other Christian churches and communities will send delegates as a sign of their shared concern for the pastoral care of families today.

Participants in the 2012 Synod of Bishops in the Vatican synod hall with Pope Benedict XVI. (CNS/Paul Haring)

Ukrainian Catholic Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kiev-Halych talks to young Manitobans at St. Nicholas Church in Winnipeg Sept. 7. (CNS photo/Courtesy Synod 2012)

“Favorites” was among question topics that young people from Manitoba submitted for the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church to answer during a visit to St. Nicholas Parish Sept. 7. Posed in the form of Tweets and projected onto a screen in front of the church, the questions followed a service to honor Blessed Nykyta Budka, the first Ukrainian Catholic bishop who arrived in Canada 100 years ago.

The Q and A was sprinkled with theology, personal stories and laughter. The Eastern church’s youngest bishop — and elected leader — has made a commitment to meet with young people every chance he gets.

“It’s not so easy to be young,” he told those present with a laugh, but later, he told them, “I promise that I will hear you.”

One question reflected a young person’s concern about where he fit into the church, since he did not speak Ukrainian and neither did his parents.

“This is not a church of Ukrainians, it’s a church of Christ,” Archbishop Shevchuk said. “We are a global church. We are a church of the Ukrainian tradition.”

Asked how he felt in March 2011 when, as a 40-year-old he was elected head of the largest Eastern church in communion with Rome, he told the young people, “I was scared to death.

“I was scared because of the huge responsibility,” he said. “I was supposed to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“I was encouraged by the bishops,” he added. “They said, ‘God will help you.’”

The archbishop was in Canada not only to visit, but to preside over the Ukrainian Catholic Synod of Bishops, which officially began Sept. 8 with participants taking at synod oath. The synod was scheduled to conclude Sept. 16.

VATICAN CITY — The Synod of Bishops for the Middle East has hit the crunch point.

This morning, the 185 voting members were given the first draft of the “propositions” in Arabic, French, English and Italian. The final proposals will be given to Pope Benedict XVI as suggestions for use in his post-synodal apostolic exhortation.

There are 41 different proposals in the first draft; they are the result of a multilingual committee sifting through and consolidating the 194 propositions submitted by the small working groups.

The fact that the committee worked until 2 a.m. on putting the list together and translating each proposal means they have to be forgiven for missing a few things — even if they’re big things — said Maronite Archbishop Paul Nabil Sayah of Haifa, Israel.

Winnowing through 194 ideas submitted in either French, Arabic or English and translating them all into four languages overnight is a great achievement, “so we can be lenient,” the archbishop said.

The first thing his small group did this morning, he said, was list the items that inadvertently got left out. Surprisingly, because so many synod members mentioned them as essential to the church’s work and mission, Catholic schools were not the topic of one of the 41 draft proposals. Also missing, he said, were references to young people and youth ministry, to laity in general and to the social work and medical care offered by the church in the region.

The bishops are back in their small groups working on amendments to the 41 proposals. They are scheduled to vote Saturday on the final version to give to Pope Benedict.

Then the real work begins, Archbishop Sayah told reporters at a briefing today. “Ultimately what matters is what we bring to our people and how it impacts their lives day to day.”